“We also see Russia is concentrating troops on the Ukrainian border. We see growing pressure from Russia as well on Moldova,” he said.

“We are at a very big risk that stability in the region will further deteriorate because of aggressive actions and hybrid attacks orchestrated either directly by [Russian president] Vladimir Putin or by his allies.”

Mr Putin accused the West of using the crisis to stoke tensions with Moscow and said he would deepen his country’s ties with Minsk in a speech to the Russian foreign ministry.

Mr Putin said: “It is also impossible to ignore that Western countries are using the migration crisis on Belarus-Poland border as a new reason for tension in a region close to us, for putting pressure on Minsk, while at the same time forgetting their own humanitarian commitments.”

“Just look how the Polish security forces are behaving at the border,” he said on Thursday, “there are small children there and they are shooting water and tear gas at the crowd, throwing grenades.”